Drivers

How Well do you Know CSA?

February 2, 2015
• by John Simms of HNI

Considering the regulatory environment in which transportation firms do business is miles from black and white, it’s no surprise that both drivers and enforcement personnel alike often are confused by the ins and outs of the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration’s CSA (Compliance, Safety, Accountability) program and its relationship to the Federal Motor Carrier Safety regulations.

Because of this, the American Transportation Research Institute surveyed truck drivers and law enforcement on their knowledge of CSA and how it relates to the FMCSRs.

On the 14-question quiz, drivers answered an average of only six items correctly, and law enforcement personnel answered an average of only nine items correctly. A question over who has access to official CSA scores was trickiest for both.

Test your CSA knowledge by taking the quiz below. Learning where your weak spots are will help your organization get more compliant.

1. When a trucking company hires a new driver, the company inherits that driver’s past violations.a. Trueb. False

2. A trucking company can remove a bad driver’s inspection and crash data from its Safety Measurement System (SMS) scores by terminating the driver.a. Trueb. False

10. Who has access to official driver CSA scores?a. All trucking companiesb. The company that currently employs the driverc. The driver him/herselfd. FMCSA enforcement staff during motor carrier investigationsf. Insurance companiesg. Third-party logistics companiesh. Third-party vendors who market driver scorecards

11. CSA scores are weighted by:a. Time (older events are weighted less than recent ones)b. Severity (events closely linked with crash risk or crash severity are weighted more)c. Nothingd. Time and severity

12. Which of the following does the FMCSA take into account in order to compare among carriers with different levels of exposure in various BASICs?a. Number of power unitsb. Vehicle miles traveled (VMTs)c. Number of inspectionsd. All 3f. Number of inspections and number of power units

14. Under CSA, BASIC scores higher than the specified threshold:a. Identify potentially at-risk carriers and help prioritize them for interventionb. Indicate that a carrier is unsafe and should not be usedc. Accompany fines if the scores do not drop lower than the threshold in a pre-specified amount of time

HNI is a non-traditional insurance brokerage and business advisory firm. This article originally appeared on HNI’s “Steal These Ideas” blog. This article was authored under the guidance and editorial standards of HDT's editors to provide useful information to our readers.

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